Hi. So admittedly I only signed up here because I had just installed Linux Mint 17.3 and I messed around and completely messed up while exploring so now I need somebody to save my impatient and naive bum. I will however, be forever grateful to that person.
But since I'm already here and I have already taken a liking to Mint, I'd like to get to know everybody better as I would love to learn more about Linux in general and even programming and software (I major in computer science -- well, I'm only on my second year so that explains how I messed up in the first place. Curiosity truly does kills the cat)

I am but a humble learner and I appreciate any bit of information or knowledge.

Welcome to the Mint family forums
I can only give you three pieces of advice, read as much as you can, If you are stuck Ask [but please keep it in the right forums] everyone was a newbie once, and if you do need to ask especially hardware/driver problems give the full details of the system a good start is ... open a terminal type inxi -Fnx [there is a space between inxi and -Fnx] cut and paste with your question

wizard

The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place.

Welcome to Linux Mint, and the Mint forum. Breaking things has been a good teacher for me, it forces you to learn. That said, if possible, have 2 Linux machines, a main one you do not mess with. And a experimental one, you try everything with first. This has worked well for me, maybe it will work for you. I picked up a cheap second hand PC from a garage sale for my experimental box, so you don;t have to spend a lot of money.